Eagles : let the revolution commence!

Remember my anti-bald eagle rant? Well, I finally did something about it! After getting the Safari Golden eagle (which I feel obliged to keep OF just because it isn't a baldy) I repainted my other two as well.
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Bullyland to a Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus). I can't really work up any enthusiasm for this model... it's not bad, it's just not very interesting. Still, it's big and looks, proportionally, bigger than the others, so Steller seems like the logical choice.
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After much poring over Raptors of the world (an excellent book, BTW) I decided my Schleich, which had originally been repainted as another Steller, would look great as a white-bellied fish eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster). Looks like an eagle wearing a seagull's clothes, doesn't it?
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Excellent work, l like them both but white-bellied is fantastic

Wow Sumo, they're awesome!

They are fantastic, Sumo
Let`s hope that some manufacturer sees this

Thankyou for sharing

So gorgoeus Sumo! Wonderful painitng job ^^

Very nice repaints, I like the choices of species and hope you do a few more.

skysthelimit wrote:

Excellent work, l like them both but white-bellied is fantastic

The same for me It's a very good idea

New one!
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This is a Verreaux eagle - and yes, I am basically leafing through the raptors guidebook and going "ooh, pretty birdy" and painting whatever I like on whichever body resembles it slightly.
Incidentally, the Bullyland eagle confuses me... it just looks so blah both in pictures and in the shop, but still paints up so well. Good thing too, because it's the only one I can get my hands on now the Schleich shop's gone. I did finally cave and ordered the Collecta, though...

Great idea, great job We need more pics

You know some ideas are growing in my mind

FANTASTIC Sumo!!

Great re-paints Sumo!
Really interesting choices in species, i really love the Steller, an awesome bird!

What? You didn't think I was done, did you?

The new Schleich is pretty nice, I can't deny it. It's much more detailed and doesn't have the obvious issues of the older version (like the blobby and asymmetrical wing feathers). It's also more gracile, with longer legs and a narrower beak. Really, if it weren't for the crappy metallic paintjob I'd have almost nothing to complain about.
For my first repaint on this mold, I decided on a species with a very similar pattern to that of the baldy: the african fish eagle (H. vocifer). The white extends further down the neck and the body is a brighter reddish brown with black remiges.
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Still stocking up on Bullylands (I did nag the shop about getting more birds in, we'll see). This one had some very bad seams around the head and neck, and of course the thing about Bully plastic is it can't be sanded or even cut neatly. Still, a good opportunity for a moderate remake! I'd wanted a bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) for a while, but never really found a mold that fit. The Bullyland isn't an ideal mold for this species, not by a long shot, but at least I got some practice sculpting. In addition to the fluffier head and neck I reshaped the beak, cut a little off the tail, and tried to make the wings narrower (without much success).
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And look, a non-plastic! This one's a Warhammer pewter model with a resculpted head (poor thing had a hood on). Beautiful model, but stupidly hard to glue and surprisingly hard to paint - so much texture!
This is supposed to be an osprey (Pandion haliaetus), which I guess isn't really an eagle, but...
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Great Sumo! I see you love eagles and so! Is it an eagle the symbol of your favourite team???
First congratulations for your repaintings and remakings of new species!
About the Schleich bald eagle I agree the mould is better than the older and also agree with the weird painting, maybe a touch of fantasy to help selling, something usual in Schleich!
Osprey is sometimes called fish eagle but the name eagle do not represent necessarily a taxon, so it is always hard to say what is an eagle or not! See the old world vultures, some are much closer to real eagles than other vultures and some are called eagles and vultures, for example, bearded vulture is sometimes called, bearded eagle! ...and what is a hawk???? ...and the difference between accipitriforms and falconiforms,, it is a long way to study about birds, don't you think???
Keep enjoying your nice work and new figures!

Nicely done, great repaints again.

Excellent

Roger wrote:

Great Sumo! I see you love eagles and so! Is it an eagle the symbol of your favourite team???

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA.... uh, that is to say, no. *gigglesnort* Just the idea of me having a favorite team...

Sumo wrote:

Roger wrote:

Great Sumo! I see you love eagles and so! Is it an eagle the symbol of your favourite team???

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA.... uh, that is to say, no. *gigglesnort* Just the idea of me having a favorite team...

Here in Portugal in local shops people is only buying the Schleich eagle because half the people is supporter of a team represented by an eagle! ...so you are from Finnish Air Force, surely!!!???

Great customs again Sumo

Sumo these are magnificent, I LOVE the Osprey!!! is there a special gloss for models you buy to get their eyes like that? I've said it loads of times but they look so real!

They are fabulous, Sumo

I love all three, but the Bateleur is perhaps my favourite, it has got such an eagly look in the face !

Yes, Shleich makes models for selling, Roger, that is their job
And they DID try to make other birds of prey once, at least they are a success with the collectors

I hope CollectA will make some more birds, they are so good at it, - and I hope that if they do, somebody will sell them

Sumo, I can`t wait to see how you eagle-project proceeds, you get better and better, you are already so good, what can`t you make with even more practice

Thay are all very nice, I really like the one you painted as an osprey.

Keep up the great work , I look forward to seeing more of youe work.

Joe

I think you did a great job Sumo, it is not easy to re-model and re-paint birds...
Go for it!

They look awesome. You did such a great job on them. Thanks for sharing.

They look so gorgeus!